Passengers
by pcworth
Summary: Based on the movie Passengers, although hopefully less creepy. Maggie Sawyer is on a 120-year journey to another planet when her hibernation pod wakes her up too early. When the ship continues to malfunction, she isn't the only one woken up.
1. Chapter 1

The Spaceship Krypton moved at a steady pace, 30 years into its 120-year journey to colonize Kronos II. The first of asteroid hit the shielding and then more and more hit. The path of the starship was taking it through the heart of the asteroid field. But the designers of this ship had taken such things into consideration, devising a system that would automatically divert more power to the shields.

It worked as the ship continued, but then a larger asteroid was headed straight for it. The impact shook the ship unbeknownst to its 400 crew members and 5,000 passengers who lay sleeping in their pods in a state of suspended animation.

Multiple errors began to pop up in the ship's systems as it finally passed out of the asteroid field. The computers began a routine repair of each system one by one.

But down in the cargo holds were the sleeping pods were stored, one of them came online and started the procedure of waking up the person inside.

Her body shook at the electrical shock passed through her body as part of the process. The pod itself opened and tilted upward so she was lying at an angle.

"Good morning Margaret Sawyer," the computer-generated voice said on the holo screen that had popped up.

"What…" the barely awake passenger said.

"It's natural that you would feel a little disoriented Margaret as you are coming out of a state of hibernation."

"It's Maggie," she said her voice slurring as she finally got her eyes to open. She saw the holographic face in front of her and she reached out for it. "Where?"

"You are on the spaceship Krypton on its voyage to Kronos II," the computer said. "You have been in hibernation for nearly 120 years. You are about to embark with the others on this ship to a new world with new opportunities," it said. "But first, we will get you to your quarters."

It took a while for Maggie to wake enough to even move from the pod and once she did, she was still too sleepy to do much other than follow the computer's direction to her quarters. She was standing at the door as it told her to swipe her ID bracelet to enter. Maggie looked down at the metal band around her wrist and a vague memory of someone putting it on her entered her mind. She swiped the band, more interested in getting to where she could lay down than anything else.

Her quarters were small but the bed looked inviting but the computer was still talking.

"Please scan your ID to receive your luggage."

Maggie did so and a small compartment opened with what she recognized as her luggage. She had a bigger cargo trunk somewhere on the ship but this was her clothes and personal items.

"As you continue to adjust from hibernation please be sure to drink plenty of liquids."

A glass of something appeared in a small cubby and she went to immediately realizing she was thirsty. Drinking it down she barely listened to the computer say something about being in group 47 to learn about colony life. Then it was wishing her good night.

Despite having just woken up Maggie stumbled to her bed and was asleep nearly immediately.

When she woke next it was to an alarm that announced itself as some sort of wake-up call. This time she was less disoriented but she still took a few moments of lying in bed to remember where she was and why she was here. One hundred and twenty years, she thought.

Everyone she had left behind on Earth was probably dead – or else they were like her and traveling amongst the stars to other colony planets. She had boarded the ship alone – no friends, no family or even a co-worker. She knew no one on this ship but she vaguely recalled the computer saying something about them still having weeks to go before they reached Kronos and some sort of classes she would be in with others.

Finally, she decided it was time to get up and start her new life.

After a shower, which did help her wake up some more, she got dressed and asked the computer about something to eat. The AI told her when she was ready to leave her room she would be directed to the cafeteria. Maggie took one more look at herself in the mirror, wanting to make a good impression with people who like her were embarking on this quest for a new home.

She left the room and the computer displayed a lighted walkway for her to follow. It led her to an elevator which then took her to something called the grand concourse. Maggie remembered a tour she had taken of the ship before she had signed the final papers to become an official colonist, however, she didn't really remember many of the details of that tour now.

The elevator stopped and she stepped out into a large area with a fountain directly in front of her, benches to sit on, and information kiosks. She looked around, taking it all in, somewhat disbelieving she was here, that she had really done it.

Continuing on, she made it to the cafeteria where there were rows and rows of tables.

It was only then that she realized there was no one else there but her.

In fact, she hadn't seen anyone else yet.

Slowing down her stride and continued to not only look around but to listen. She was listening for sounds of anyone else. The crew was supposed to have been woken up weeks before the passengers, yet she hadn't seen any crew either.

Her heartbeat began to increase slightly as she thought about how wrong this all was. There should be thousands of people on this ship – surely she would have happened across someone by now.

"Hello?" she called out, feeling a little stupid about it, but when she heard no response, she did it again, only this time louder. She also began walking quicker, looking for any signs of life around her. Stopping at an info kiosk, she contacted the ship's AI again.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, the panic barely registering in her voice.

"Everyone is aboard the ship, Krypton, en route to colony home world Kronos," it responded.

"Yes, but where are they all? Where is the crew?"

The message repeated itself again.

"Is there anyone else awake but me?"

"All passengers are awoken four weeks before reaching Kronos in order to meet each other, learn about colonization and prepare for their new home world."

This was getting her nowhere.

"Is there someone I can speak to, a human, not a machine?"

"The Steward typically handles passenger issues."

"And where can I find the Steward?"

The computer gave her directions and she went up to the second level of the concourse and found the office easy enough but once she entered it, it was empty as well. She ran back down to the information kiosk.

"I need to speak to the captain," she said. "It's an emergency."

"The captain does not generally handle issues from passengers. You should speak with the Steward."

"I tried to and no one was there, I need to speak to the captain. Where can I find the captain."

"The captain and command crew are typically on the bridge."

Maggie got the directions and went in search of anyone at this point. As she made her way up to the bridge she encountered no one and heard nothing but her own footfalls and breathing. She reached the bridge but the door wouldn't open for her as her ID bracelet didn't have sufficient security access. Still she peaked in through the porthole and saw no one in there.

"This isn't happening," she said. "This can't be happening. Maybe I'm still asleep. Maybe this is a dream."

Even as she said it, she knew it wasn't true.

She found another kiosk. "Is there someplace where I can see where we are at, where the ship is at in space?"

"The observation deck has full mapping capabilities."

"Where is it?"

She was again running once she got directions, reaching the observation deck, she immediately commanded. "Show me the Krypton in relation to Kronos."

A holographic image of ship on a trajectory to Kronos came up. It looked like it was far from the planet, but without something else to match it against, she wasn't sure.

"Computer show me the Earth in relation to the ship and Kronos."

Once the blue globe appeared, Maggie knew she was in trouble, but still she hesitated before asking, "how many years will it take to get to Kronos from where the ship is now?"

"Approximately 90 years."


	2. Chapter 2

Maggie staggered from the observation deck, feeling like she was going to throw up. Ninety-years. She had woken up way too soon. But how?

Again, she was back at the information kiosk.

"My hibernation pod, something happened, it must have malfunctioned or something. I'm awake and I shouldn't be. We still have 90 years to go on this journey," she said, her breathing coming fast.

"Hibernation pods have never malfunctioned," the computer said.

"Yeah, well I'm telling you mine did. I'm awake. I shouldn't be."

"Hibernation pods have never malfunctioned," the computer repeated.

"How do I get back into hibernation?" she asked.

"Returning to hibernation is not possible."

"There has to be a way," Maggie said. "There has to be. Did you hear me? Ninety years. We don't arrive for 90 years. I'll be dead by that time. This is an emergency. I need to speak to someone."

"The Steward handles passenger issues," the computer said.

This was useless, Maggie thought. She ran back to the elevator and made her way down to the deck where the passenger hibernation pods were located. She found her own and began to look around it. As a mechanical engineer, she knew machines, but she didn't know medicine. She was wary to try anything with it, without knowing more about it.

There had to be some sort of instruction manual for it, she figured.

It took her no time to find the manuals for many of the ship's systems – as for once the computer was helpful. She returned to her room with the manual for the pod and began to go through it. As much as she was in a hurry, she had to force herself to go slowly through the manual. She needed to make sure she didn't miss anything and she needed to understand how it worked.

She needed to get it working because she knew her life depended on it.

…

Maggie spent a few hours going through the manual, before she realized that not only had that much time passed but that she was hungry. Taking the manual with her went down to the grand concourse area and followed the directions to the cafeteria. Placing the manual on a nearby table she went up to one of the food dispensaries and scanned her ID bracelet and first brought up the menu for some coffee.

"I will take the double expresso mocha, large," she said.

"I'm sorry, but that selection is restricted to gold class passengers."

Maggie looked down at her ID bracelet knowing that she was only a bronze class – the lowest class of passengers on the ship.

"Son of a bitch," she swore. If she couldn't get some coffee then she was going to kill someone, not that there was anyone around for her to kill. She started touching all the coffee options, each one telling her she couldn't have it because it was restricted to gold or silver members. Finally, the computer accepted her request – plain, coffee, black.

When it came to food, she didn't even bother looking at the entire menu, instead selecting the most basic of breakfasts.

Returning to her seat, she opened the tech manual again and began to read as she ate. She felt like she was getting a good handle on how the machine operated by the time she was done eating. Not feeling like returning to her quarters, she had the computer give her directions to one of the lounges, where she could maybe stretch out on a couch and read.

As she was walking to it, she passed by what appeared to be a bar when she saw him. Stopping, she did a double take before running up to the bar with a smile on her face.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you," she said to the man who was dressed like he must be the bartender. He was cleaning a glass with his own smile on his face.

"It's good to see you too," he said. "My name is Winn."

"Maggie, my name is Maggie."

"A pleasure to meet you Maggie, what would you like to drink?"

"Listen man, we are in a boatload of trouble."

"How so?"

"We're not supposed to be awake. We aren't supposed to be out here yet."

"Well, I won't tell if you don't."

Maggie looked at him again, really looked at him and how he moved as he continued to clean the glass. There was something wrong here, her mind told her. She leaned over the counter and saw Winn had no legs, just a motorized stand that would allow him to move around the back of the bar.

"You're a robot," she said, settling back down into her seat.

"An android actually. Top of the line. The Homestead Company spares no expense for its passengers."

"Yeah, right," Maggie said. "So concerned about its passengers that it makes no provisions for when a hibernation pod malfunctions and one wakes up."

"Hibernation pods don't malfunction," Winn said.

"Really? Let me ask you this then, when do we arrive at Kronos II?"

"In approximately, 90 years."

"And when are the passengers supposed to wake up?"

"When we are in our final arrival stages."

"Then how am I awake?"

Winn cocked his head a moment and responded. "It's not possible for you to be here."

"Here I am though," Maggie said. "Here I am."

"Would you care for something to drink?"

"Whiskey, neat."

Winn went sliding to the back shelf and grabbed a bottle before sliding back in front of her and pouring a glass for her. She hadn't had a drink since the night before she reported to the station for hibernation. Holding the glass in her hand, she thought about her last night on Earth. It was spent alone – she had already said her goodbyes to the few people in her life that would care that she was leaving.

She had gone to a bar and ordered a drink, much like this and she had thought about her life on Earth. Now she was thinking only about life – and how unfair it was.

Drinking the whiskey down, she placed the glass back on the counter. "Thanks Winn," she said and then she left. She had work to do.

….

Maggie knelt next to her hibernation pod. She had read the manual three times to make sure she knew what she was doing. One of the panels on the side was open and she was working on one of the circuits – she was being extra careful as she slid the circuit board back into its spot. As she did so, the entire panel lit up and the pod opened.

Hurrying, Maggie got into it and laid down. The closed around her and she shut her eyes waiting for it to put her back to sleep.

"Damn it," Maggie said less than a minute later when she realized that the pod wasn't going to put her back to sleep. She pushed against the glass so she could get out of it, but it wouldn't budge. Panicking she began to push harder but it still wouldn't open. Fear gripped her as she imagined being stuck in there until she finally starved to death and died.

Refusing to give up, she began to pound on the lid.

When it finally opened she sat up gasping for breath and then she got out of it, afraid it would close upon her once more.

Once out she stood there a moment staring at it, knowing that no matter what she would never be able to be put back into hibernation. As the thought solidified in her mind, she began to run.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hit me," Maggie said, pointing at the shot glass she had just emptied and placed back down on the bar.

Winn filled it back up and Maggie downed it once again.

"Hit me," she said again.

"I am programmed to stop serving drinks when people begin to get rowdy," Winn warned her even as he filled up the glass.

Maggie picked up the glass and looked around the empty room. "Well as much as I may like for it to get rowdy, I don't think that is going to happen to the people."

She downed the drink once more signaled to him. "Tell me Winn, what would you do if you were stuck on a ship, alone, and you were going to die on this ship alone."

Winn gave her a slight cock of the head, a signal that he was processing how to respond, before saying, "I don't know, I have never been stuck on a ship alone."

Maggie laughed, not because she found it particularly funny, but just at the absurdity of the situation itself.

Winn leaned over, his elbow on the bar – "If you aren't happy in your current circumstances, you should look at changing your circumstances."

"Oh believe me, I have tried," Maggie said.

"As far as I can tell you haven't changed much, you come here at the same time every day and drink the same drink," Winn said. "Perhaps you should change things up. Try and have some fun. This ship is outfitted with various entertainments for its passengers."

"Have fun, eh?" she said. "Sure, why not?"

….

The next day – after her hangover cleared up - -Maggie visited one of the kiosks to see what types of entertainment this ship had to offer. Examining the list, she first got directions to the basketball court, already feeling the loneliness of playing a team sport by herself. Still, she spent time shooting hoops, although her percentage of made shots as displayed on the wall showed she was only shooting 42 percent.

After a shower, she visited the movie theater and watched two movies back to back. Throughout it, she couldn't help but looking around at all the empty seats around her.

That night she again ended up in front of Winn at the bar, but this time she ordered a cranberry vodka to drink to change things up.

"How was your day?" Winn asked.

She shrugged, "Ok, I guess, I took your advice and tried other things today."

"And how did that go?"

"It seems like most of the stuff on this ship was designed for groups to do together – you know for us to get to know each other," Maggie said. "Kind of hard to do when you are the only one here. Still, it kept me occupied."

"That is something," Winn said.

"Yeah," she said, even as she thought that it wasn't enough.

The next day though she was at it again, working on her basketball moves, even trying her hand a virtual golf game and batting cage. She would watch movies, dine at some of the restaurants on the ship and this went on for weeks and weeks.

But after a month and half passed, she decided she had enough. The ship had woken her up so someone on this ship needed to answer for that – even if it meant she had to wake them up. She had already sent a message back to Earth to the company but it would be decades before she got a response, assuming she got one.

Taking equipment up to the crew quarters she began the process of trying to break into it.

For days, she tried everything. She tried rerouting power away from the door lock mechanism. She tried welding through the door and even used a sledgehammer to beat away at it – all for nothing.

After that she spent two days in bed, unable to bring herself to even go get something to eat because she felt the futility of the life she was now being forced to live.

When she did get up, it was only because she refused to lie there anymore like that. She wasn't going to give up and die while lying in a bed, so she got up and headed down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. While eating – again the basic meal afforded her by her ranking as a passenger – she thought about how unfair it all was, not just her pod malfunctioning but by her still being bronze class passenger she couldn't even enjoy everything the ship afforded. Even her room was boring and made her not want to spend time there.

As she thought about it, she realized that she had her run of the ship, which means she could find better accommodations. Before her attempt at breaking into the crew quarters she had broken into her own room as a test and it was ridiculously easy as it took nothing more than a flat headed bar and some leverage. Hurrying through her breakfast, she began searching the ship directory for the luxury suites.

Finding one she thought might suit her, she got into the elevator to go down to room to get her stuff. As she was heading down, the elevator suddenly stopped but not for her destination. The doors opened and closed quickly and Maggie moved carefully toward them only for the elevator to begin to drop again – so fast this time, the gravity turned off and she found she was floating. Then just as fast, it stopped and she came crashing to the ground.

She got the wind knocked out of her briefly, but she was fine. Slow to get up still, she approached the doors which took an extra second to open than what they normally did. Swiftly getting off it, she decided to not use that one until she got the chance to run a diagnostic on it – assuming she could.

Shaking off the odd occurrence, she made her way to her room and grabbed all her stuff – not much as it turned out, but this was just the stuff she had for the ship voyage. She had two crates stored on the ship with the rest of the passenger's luggage. Choosing a different route to avoid the malfunctioning elevator, she went up to the room she selected and pried her way into it. As she stepped into the spacious – two story room – she couldn't help but laugh.

"So, this is how the other half lives," she said just before jumping onto the couch.

The new room gave Maggie a bit of resurgence, as she began spending more time enjoying different things on the ship. She even found a simulated game that let you play different instruments and you had to hit the right notes with the songs. She had never been much into music and it showed as the first several times she played it she failed miserably.

As time moved on, she got better at it, got better at basketball, got better at other games, except for golf, but the one thing she couldn't get any better at was dealing with the loneliness. It was worse at nighttime when she would often go to the observation deck and look out at the stars.

She was surrounded by an infinite nothing.

The stars no longer appealed to her and she wondered not for the first time, why she had chosen to come out here.

The months continued on and Maggie merely was going through the motions of life. Nothing meant anything to her and she couldn't get out of the funk that daily plagued her.

Lately she had been going down to where the hibernation pods were and looking at the people inside of them. She would look at their names and wonder about the lives they led on Earth. She knew each one of them had a bio on file in the computer system, but she hadn't bothered looking at any of them. Knowing who they were would not make her feel any better about her own situation.

One day when she was down there, she noticed a door she hadn't yet explored and going into it she found a series of space suits. Examining them, she called up the files in the room to see what they were for.

Once she read up on it, she began the process of putting one on – she was going to take a space walk.

Nervousness flooded through her as she stepped into the air duct. The computer had instructed her on how to put the suit on and it scanned her to make sure it was on correctly. She got to the end of the short corridor and reached over to the lever that would open the door, but before doing so she remembered that she had to put the magnetic boots on. Once she was firmly attached, she pulled the lever.

The door opened in front of her and she stared down at the expanse. Slowly stepping out she heard the computer say it was attaching a tether to her but she was barely paying attention to that as she continued to stare.

It was beautiful and sad all at the same time.

Maggie walked to the edge and bent over slightly before pushing off. She went floating into space. She turned so as she floated she was looking up and not down. Was this what it was like for the first men to go into space, she wondered. Did they feel the enormity of it?

She didn't know how long she stayed out there but as she returned she felt a profound sadness – more so than what she had felt previously. There was so much out there – star, planets, moons, entire universes, and she was here alone. Taking off the helmet she stared back at the door.

She was alone. She had come on this trip alone. Would anyone notice that she never arrived on Kronos? Would it matter if she died?

Before she realized what she was doing, her hand was on the release lever for the door once more. Her eyes went in that direction and she thought about what it would mean to just push down on it and leave this life forever.

But even as she thought about it, she fled from the hall, puking as soon as she was safely back in the room.

Stripping off the suit as quickly as possible she ran all the way back to her room.

…

Maggie had stopped dressing properly a long time ago so she was still wearing a pair of pajama pants and a tank top when she entered the elevator to go down to get some breakfast. Maybe she would spend the day in the theater, she thought. Or her other past time of late, going through the cargo bay to see what people brought with them.

Although she knew what she should be doing – fixing things on this stupid ship. It seemed like more of the cleaning robots had malfunctioned this week but she had yet to get the motivation to repair them.

As she stepped off the elevator she stopped.

Was she still asleep? That was the first thought that came into her brain as she saw a woman walking in the main concourse, looking around as if searching for something or someone.

"Hello?"

The voice nearly startled her.

Stepping forward, the woman having not seen her yet, she kept things slow, afraid that if she moved too quickly this mirage would disappear.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" the woman said.

If this was a hallucination Maggie didn't want to it to end. Still she moved forward again, this time saying, "Hello."

The woman turned toward her and Maggie's first thought was that she was beautiful and she almost wanted to cry for the sight of her.

"Hi," the woman said coming toward her. "I was beginning to think I was the only one awake."

Maggie didn't answer, only continued to stare at her.

"I'm Alex," the woman said offering her hand.

"Maggie," she replied taking the hand. The feel of a human's touch did cause a tear to come free from her eye.

"Are you ok?" Alex asked, taking away her hand.

"You, you're really here," Maggie said.

"Yes," Alex said after a slight pause. She was now looking at Maggie like she was a crazy person, but Maggie didn't care. "Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yeah," Maggie said. "But there is something I should tell you. We are alone on this ship.


	4. Chapter 4

"Good morning Alexandra Danvers," was the first thing she heard from the computer-generated voice.

"It's Alex," Alex replied. No one called her Alexandra except her mother. She continued to lay there trying to wake up as the computer explained to her that she was on a spaceship. The whole spiel was barely making sense to her as her mind continued to try and wake up.

By the time she made it to her room, she was still groggy but at least she remembered now that yes she had indeed booked this trip to some unknown world. The computer was telling her something about getting her luggage and she looked down at the band around her wrist and she had it scanned. A compartment opened and there was her luggage.

Now the computer was saying something about staying hydrated, but Alex was no longer interested in listening as she laid down on the bed and went back to sleep.

When she woke, the first thing she did was start drinking water. Her throat fell raw and it was two and half glasses before she began feeling better. She had read up on hibernation before finalizing her decision to take this trip. She knew people could react differently to hibernation and a small percentage could develop what was commonly called hibernation sickness. It was usually just a mild malaise that lasted a few days. She was sure she was in the clear, but decided to stay on a regiment of water for the next couple of days.

After getting dressed, she decided it was time to start this adventure – or at least pop over next door to her sister Kara's room. They had booked this trip at the same time and ensured they had rooms close to each other. Leaving her room, she walked the short distance over to Kara's and pressed the touchpad next to it to signal someone was out there. When no one came to the door, she did it again. Still no response.

Maybe they were asleep still, Alex thought. Why she expected that Kara might still be asleep – she swore her sister could sleep through a nuclear explosion. But her wife, Lena, she expected at least Lena would be up.

When she again got no answer after a couple of more tries, she decided she would at least go check out the ship.

She was immediately struck by how quiet it was. With all the people who were on this ship she expected it would be much more noisy.

But as she continued through the hallways she found the quiet disconcerting. By the time she reached the main concourse and saw no one around, she started to be slightly creeped out by it.

"Hello," she called out loudly.

Nothing.

She was looking all around her as she walked but she wasn't seeing anyone around.

"Hello. Is anyone here?"

"Hello."

She turned and saw another woman wearing what she could only assume was her pajamas.

"Hi," Alex said coming toward her. "I was beginning to think I was the only one awake."

The woman didn't respond, but Alex thought the way the woman was staring at her was alittle abnormal.

"I'm Alex," she said offering her hand.

"Maggie," the woman replied taking her hand.

When she saw a tear fall from the woman's eye, she wondered what was wrong.

"Are you ok?" Alex asked, taking away her hand.

"You, you're really here," Maggie said.

Alex was confused as to why the woman would say that, but she responded, "Yes. Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yeah," Maggie said. "But there is something I should tell you. We are alone on this ship."

Alex cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"Um, maybe we should take a seat," Maggie said. Alex let her guide her over to a bench and Alex sat and listened to Maggie tell the story of how she woke up on the ship only to discover the rest of the passengers were still in stasis. And how she found out there was no way for her to get back into a hibernation pod.

But the biggest shock was the 90 years.

She stood, trying to process this. It wasn't possible. She had read about these hibernation pods and there had never been a report of one failing, much less two of them.

"It's not possible," Alex said.

"Yeah, I know that was my first reaction but I'm telling you that it is true," Maggie said.

"I … I need to check on my sister," she said.

Turning, she went running to one of the lifts and got in, surprised when Maggie was right there with her. She gave the command to go back to the floor where their rooms were located.

"Your sister?" Maggie asked. "You are on the ship with your sister. Is she awake too?"

"I don't know. I tried to visit with her but no one answered the door."

Neither woman said anything as the lift moved and once the doors opened on the correct floor, Alex went running for her sister's door. She again tried the touchpad, but when she got to response after multiple attempts, she pounded on the door. "Kara!" she yelled. "Kara, I need you to come to the door. Kara, please. Kara!" She paused, trying to listen for any movement. "Lena," she yelled this time. "Lena! If you and Kara are in there, please, open the door."

She continued to yell and pound on the door, until she finally stepped back, knowing they weren't in there.

"I could take you down to the bay where the hibernation pods are."

She turned toward Maggie, having practically forgotten that the other woman was there. She nodded and followed Maggie back to the lift. Again they were silent on the ride down and when the door opened, Alex didn't rush out, she merely followed Maggie, who stopped at a touchpad panel.

"Kara, that's your sister's name?" Maggie asked. Alex nodded. "What's her last name?"

"Danvers. I mean, Luther, it's Luther."

Maggie used the touchpad and looked up Kara's name and Alex saw it was displaying pod number. There were thousands of passengers on the ship and Alex had no idea how they would find the right pod as Alex had no idea where her pod even was. She was so disoriented from coming out of hibernation she had not paid attention to anything.

Still, Maggie moved to a corridor to their left and then entered a bay that was filled with pods and walked right up to a section where Alex said one pod was open. It was hers, she knew it because when she looked into the pod next to it, there was her sister asleep in hers. Next to Kara was her wife Lena.

Her beautiful little sister, was lying there like she was frozen in time. And that was how it was supposed to be. They were supposed to be asleep until they got closer to the planet and then they would be woken up. They were going to a new planet, going to start new lives. It was to be a new beginning but now …

"This isn't possible," Alex said. "There has to be a way to fix this. There must be someone on this ship who can fix this."

"I'm sorry," Maggie said. "But there isn't. You and I are the only ones awake on this ship."

"There has to be a way."

…

Maggie left Alex alone the next few days. As near as she could tell the other woman had spent the entire time much like Maggie had on her first days of being awake – running around trying to find some way, anyway to put herself back into hibernation or else get in contact with someone who could possibly help.

When she wasn't running around, Alex was down in the hibernation bay sitting on a chair next to her sister's pod.

Being an only child, Maggie didn't know what it was like to have a sibling, but she could tell just from Alex's reaction that she must have a close relationship with her sister. In some ways, Maggie thought Alex was worse off for it. At least Maggie was alone on the ship so when she died she wasn't leaving anyone behind.

She was at the bar drinking when Alex came and took a seat beside her.

"How long have you been awake?" Alex asked.

They hadn't actually spoken much to each other since their initial meeting. Alex hadn't wanted to hear that there was nothing she could do fix the situation and Maggie as much as she craved human interaction didn't want to waste more time on the dream that they could get back into hibernation.

"One year, one month and three days," Maggie responded.

"And you've been alone here this entire time?"

"Yep, unless you count Winn here. Oh, I should introduce you – Winn this is Alex, Alex this is Winn. He is an android who gets a little testy when you call him a robot."

"Pleased to meet you," Winn said. "May I get you a drink?"

Alex looked over at Maggie, and said, "I'll have whatever she is having."

Winn placed a glass in front of her and then began to pour in whiskey.

"Do you want topped off, Maggie?" Winn asked.

"No, I'm good," Maggie said, although she wouldn't mind being topped off, she didn't want Alex to think she was an alcoholic or something.

Alex took a small drink. "How did you do it?"

"What?"

"How did you last all this time alone?"

Taking her own drink, Maggie turned toward her. "I don't know," Maggie said. "I just did. It wasn't easy, but what other choice did I have." Even as she said it, she thought about that moment where her hand was on the release lever that would have sucked her out into space.

"I saw the crew's quarters," Alex said. "That was when I wondered how long you had been awake."

Maggie had left all the tools she had used to try and get into that door lying around outside of it. She had done everything she could think of to get into that door, to wake someone up. She knew she would be dooming that person to a life like her own but she felt like someone needed to be held responsible for what had happened to her. Plus, maybe that person knew something that could help.

But she had failed at getting into the door.

"I'm sorry," Maggie said. "I'm sorry about your sister."

"You aren't responsible," Alex said. "But thank you."

There was a pause and then Alex spoke again, "What have you tried so far to solve this problem?"

Maggie downed her drink. "Everything. Everything I could think of. If you want to try everything you can think of, go for it. I will be right here when you come to the same conclusion I did, which is that we are royally screwed."

"I refuse to believe there isn't a way."

"I know you do," Maggie said. "Because that is who I was a year ago."

Alex left her unfinished drink and walked out. Maggie took Alex's glass and drank the rest of it before turning to Winn. "I will have another."

She knew Alex was looking to her for something more positive but she couldn't do it, she couldn't give her false hope.

….

Maggie had a hangover – not her first – the next morning so she didn't emerge from her room until later in the day. When she did, she asked the computer for Alex's location. Since they had their ID bracelets, the computer knew where they were at all times. She was unsurprised when it told her that Alex was once again in the hibernation bay.

While she would have preferred getting something to eat first, she instead made her way down to the bay. As expected, she found Alex sitting on a chair next to her sister's pod.

"Hey," Maggie said.

"Hi."

"I wanted to say sorry for yesterday," Maggie said. "It's just that I have been here alone for a while now and I didn't mean to be dismissive of you trying to find a solution to our problem. I didn't want to give you and if I'm being honest, I didn't want to give myself false hope. So, if you still want to know what I tried I will tell you what you want to know."

"Thank you," Alex said.

When Alex didn't say anything else, and just continued to sit there looking at her sister's pod, Maggie told her she was going up to get some breakfast. It was only then that Alex moved. "I haven't eaten yet either, I will come with you."

They didn't speak on their way up to the concourse, so when they reached there, Maggie feeling nervous began to give Alex a tour of sorts. Maggie had been all over the ship in the year she had been awake and knew her way around well. There were some areas she couldn't access because of the security level involved. She assumed those were crew only areas.

Maggie let Alex order her food first, and then sat down with her own usual breakfast.

"You have simple tastes," Alex commented, looking at the tray of food in front of Maggie.

"Not really," she responded. "But I am not a gold passenger member, I'm just a bronze."

Alex looked down at her bracelet and over at Maggie's. "You mean you can't order what you want because of these ID bracelets."

Maggie nodded after taking a bit of her toast.

"Well, that's ridiculous," Alex said, standing up. "Tell me what you want and I will order it."

Maggie wasn't about to pass up this offer, but she hadn't actually seen the full menu. Once she determined she couldn't order any of it - or successfully hack the machine to get it to do what she wanted – she hadn't tortured herself by looking at the offerings. She stood now and approached the screen to look.

In the end she ordered a stack of pancakes with strawberries on them and a double expresso mocha.

"Thank you," Maggie said in between bites. To her it was the most delicious meal she had ever tasted.

"You're welcome," Alex smiled as she saw how happy Maggie looked eating her food. Maggie caught her looking and smiled back at her.

Maggie continued devouring her food, trying not to look like a giant slob in the process, but she kept sneaking looks at Alex. She assumed they were around the same age, but with the gold class passenger ID bracelet she could easily assume they didn't have similar upbringings. Not that too many people had pasts like hers. It was one of the reasons she decided to take this one-way trip – a chance to start a new life and leave that past and its baggage behind.

Knowing what it cost her for her fare, she could only imagine how much Alex and her sister must have paid to have the accommodations they did. Alex was on one of the first-class floors as far as rooms went, which meant she actually had a suite, not a small cubby room like the one Maggie had been assigned. Of course, Maggie had a suite now too, but it's not like she was paying for it.

"So, what do you do?" Maggie finally asked. "I mean, before you decided to travel to a brand new world."

"I'm a doctor of microbiology and genetics," Alex said. "I worked for the united world government studying non-terrestrial life forms."

"Non-terrestrial – you mean like alien life forms?"

"Yes," Alex said. "You could say it is sort of a family interest. What about you?"

"Mechanical engineer," Maggie said. "I've always been fascinated by machinery so I tend to like to tear things apart to see how they work and build my own hopefully better versions. But you're a doctor, does that mean you understand how all of this hibernation stuff works? Because I understand the pods and how they work. The first day I was awake and realized I was alone, I found the operation manual for the pods and studied it. Somehow my pod's internal timer got triggered – not entirely sure how – but it sent the command to the pod that it was time to wake me up. I repaired the timer and put in a safeguard to block any external triggers from happening again, but the pod isn't the problem any longer. The problem is the hibernation itself. It's that process that we had to go through for them to put us under in the first place. I don't know anything about that."

For a moment there, Maggie allowed a little bit of hope in that maybe the universe was done dicking around with her and had sent her someone who could actually help.

"I went to school to be a medical doctor, but changed my course of study near the end, so I never actually went on any medical rotations or anything like that. I studied what I could about hibernation a lot before I agreed to this trip. I guess I needed it for my own peace of mind before I was willing to go to sleep for 120 years, and as you can see that worked out well," she said. "The problem is that the process itself is proprietary information from the company so all I could really do was read papers that were theoretical in nature. So I understand the theory of how it works, but not the specifics of the process."

And there was the universe kicking her again, Maggie thought.

"But I'm not going to let that stop me," Alex said. "Maybe there is information here on the ship that will help me figure it out. There is a whole medical bay here and it's not like I have anything else to do with my time."

"Yeah," Maggie said. "I guess not."

"Do you think you could look at my pod and see if it was the same thing that happened to yours?"

"Certainly," Maggie said. "But do you think can get me another mocha first?"

…

Maggie went to grab her tools and then headed down to the hibernation bay to examine Alex's pod. It wouldn't take long if she went straight to the timer, but she was never one to hurry on a job if she could help it. She decided to start with a full diagnostic check first.

She wasn't sure if she was surprised or not that Alex came down with her. After all her time spent alone, she found she was a little weirded out by having another presence so close to her, especially one that was being so quiet. She remembered waking up the day after meeting Alex and lying in her bed afraid to go out and discover that maybe it had all been in her head or that she had dreamt it.

If she had conjured up Alex in her mind, she would have been devastated perhaps even more so than when she learned she was alone on the ship.

Of course, leave it to her to conjure up a beautiful woman. The fact that Alex was attractive had not escaped her attention at all.

But Alex was real and as she knelt down to start examining the pod, there was Alex right beside her – something Maggie was hyper aware of. As she began to work, Alex was right there beside her, not saying anything or interrupting her, but Maggie found her presence to be distracting enough.

"You said what you do was sort of like the family business, what did you mean by that?"

"My father and mother both have their doctorates, although I followed in my dad's footsteps in terms of my studies. My mother probably would have preferred I had stayed in med school. She is actual doctor," Alex said. "But my father, he worked for the unified government in studying extraterrestrial life. He developed several of the working protocols that are used today to test life on planets before they are chosen for colonization."

"Wow," Maggie said. "You must be proud of both of your parents. What did they think about you and your sister taking this trip?"

When there was silence, Maggie looked at Alex and could tell immediately there was something painful in the answer to that question.

"Sorry," Maggie said. "It's none of my business."

"No, it's ok. Our parents are dead. My dad died when I was a teenager. He had been doing field work on the outer ring planets at the time. He had gotten called back to Earth and was a passenger on the Nautilus."

Alex didn't need to say anymore. There wasn't a person alive on Earth that didn't know about the Nautilus. It was the flag ship of the unified government's fleet. It had been attacked by an alien species called the Daxamites. They had invaded the galaxy and made it to Earth. It took three months to defeat them. The attack on the Nautilus was the defining event of a generation. There wasn't a person alive at the time that probably couldn't tell you where they were when word reached Earth.

In a lot of ways it was the invasion that fueled the commercial travel to planets like Kronos II. Part of the problem was that there was simply not enough space on Earth for everyone. The roots of it could be traced back to the 21st Century when the gap between rich and poor began to become extreme. A series of elections across the world were won by conservatives who had made laws that contributed tp furthering that gap. Their laws also contributed to pulling back on health care for the poor and access to things like birth control became more restricted. Those who cautioned against such maneuvers were silenced. Election laws and maps were changed to keep conservatives in power. In some countries they even gave up the pretense of having elections.

It caused a population boom that eclipsed even the baby boomers generation. A series of economic crashes and recessions pushed people to the brink and wars broke out. The backlash was ugly as wars broke out. In the end, a unified government was formed and they had begun to work together not for the betterment of countries but of the Earth itself.

It took a couple of generations to get beyond the turmoil, but the government worked not only on the Earth, but began a massive expansion in space travel almost from the beginning. Explorations began and now they were at the heights of colonization.

It wasn't to say everything was perfect. It was far from a utopia and there were those who opposed the unified government and wanted power returned back to countries. There were those who believed the better times were back in the past.

"Sorry about your dad," Maggie said.

"Thanks," Alex said. "My mom passed away last year, not long after Kara got married. Kara and Lena had already been planning on taking one of the colonization flights and after mom died, they asked me to come with them. I guess I couldn't imagine not being able to talk to my sister."

She again looked at Kara's pod with sadness. Maggie couldn't imagine what it must be like. She was lucky in that she was alone, no other pod to sit beside and wonder what it would be like to die without that person knowing about it until they woke at the right time.

"Is your sister also a scientist?"

"No," Alex laughed. "She's a journalist. She has this dream of going on this grand adventure and chronicling life on a whole new planet. She's lucky to have found Lena who would go to the end of any universe for Kara."

"You said her last name is Luther, is she related to those Luthers?" Maggie asked. There was no reason to expand on which Luthers she was referring to. They were one of the wealthiest families on Earth.

"Yes," Alex said. "Although you could hardly tell it from the way Lena is. I was worried at first when Kara started dating her, but that was before I spent time with Lena. Now she is just as much my sister as Kara is."

"I really do hope we can find a way out of this mess, so you can be with them again."

"Thank you."

Alex smiled at her when she said it and Maggie was sure she was blushing as she smiled back. She turned back to the pod and tried to concentrate on what she was doing. She asked Alex some more questions to keep her talking as she worked.

In the end, she found out it wasn't the timer on Alex's pod that went out, but some circuits had burned out, which was strange because the secondary systems didn't kick in to prevent the pod malfunctioning. Two pods malfunctioned but in different ways, what was the chances of that happening, Maggie wondered.

"Is it a problem you can fix?" Alex asked after Maggie explained what went wrong with the pod.

"Sure," Maggie said. "Shouldn't be too hard. I can get started immediately. Not like I have other commitments."

"I should probably start my part then and start to figure out how the hibernation process works," Alex said.

Maggie stood up and faced Alex. "I really hope you can figure it out, but don't put too much pressure on yourself, ok? I can't have the only person I know on this ship going crazy on me."

"I will try," Alex said, giving her another smile before leaving the room. Maggie watched her go and then looked over at Kara's pod. "Is your sister single?" she asked.


	5. Chapter 5

Alex was trying to concentrate on one of the texts in front of her – one of the early papers done on hibernation – or at least the theory of it. She hadn't found anything on the ship that gave her specific information pertaining to how the company did it since that was proprietary information. Since she struck out there she decided to go back to the beginning as it were and work up to the more recent texts.

It occurred to her that since she had been asleep for 30 years that much of this information would be out of date back home.

A lot of things could have happened in that 30 years.

She thought about what she had left behind – a good job, co-workers, but not much else. Sure, she had friends she had said goodbye to but none of them were what she would call a best friend. Friendships always seemed to take a back seat to her work.

As for relationships, well she sucked at having those so there was nothing she was leaving behind there.

She was adjusting to the ship just fine having created a routine for herself. Each morning she would get up and go workout in the gym before returning to her room to shower and then on to breakfast. Sometimes Maggie would be down there for breakfast and if she was they would sit together and Alex would use her ID bracelet to make sure she could eat whatever she wanted.

The rest of the morning she would spend reading various texts – not just about hibernation, but also brushing up on her own medical skills.

She had already been down to the infirmary and it was top of the line including an autodoc station that could handle any emergencies that might arise. The infirmary was fully stocked with lots of medicine, but not knowing what combination might have been used in the hibernation process they might as well be aspirin.

Alex saw Maggie at lunch more often than breakfast and often the other woman was sitting a table with some piece of machinery or another in parts as she worked on it. A few Alex recognized such as the automated cleaning units, which Maggie had explained to her had been malfunctioning. She had asked if that was normal and Maggie said it shouldn't be. She said the units were malfunctioning but like their hibernation pods it wasn't always for the same reasons.

After lunch Alex would head down to the sit by her sister's hibernation pod for a bit. She knew it was silly, but it brought her a measure of comfort to be able to see Kara and yes, even speak to her. She still couldn't fathom the idea of not seeing her or hearing her voice ever again. That is why she needed to find a way to get the hibernation sequence down so she and Maggie could get back in their pods.

Maggie. While they had spoken multiple times, she felt like she didn't really know much about her as Maggie didn't seem to talk about herself much. Yes, she would answer questions if asked but she didn't offer anything up on her own. She knew that Maggie was alone on the ship, as she had asked her that, but Maggie didn't expand upon it.

Alex couldn't imagine taking a flight like this without someone else. Of course, having someone like her sister here when she was asleep and Alex was awake was no picnic either.

Putting aside the texts she was reading, Alex instead called up the passenger roster. The Homestead Company had all of them record these interviews about themselves before they left. The idea was that it would help people learn about each other since they would all be making their homes on a new planet. When she had done hers Alex couldn't help but feel like she was being asked questions for a dating site.

It didn't take her long to find one Margaret Sawyer and hit play.

The first thing she noticed was Maggie looked as uncomfortable as she had when she did hers.

"Tell us a little about yourself," said the voice off screen.

Maggie paused as if thinking of an answer and she started with a shrug. "I'm a mechanical engineer."

Alex laughed a little as that was all Maggie said, as she sat there with her arms crossed like she was daring the person to ask her something else.

"Where are you from? Where did you grow up?" the interviewer asked.

"Earth."

Oh yeah, Alex thought, this interviewer is going to get nowhere.

"What made you decide to go on this trip?"

"Well the brochure said there would be wide open spaces and room to grow."

Wow, Alex thought, she doesn't like talking about herself. Then she wondered why that was.

The interview was quick – a lot quicker than Alex remembered hers being. The host had asked a couple of other questions but about all Alex learned about Maggie was that she needed coffee in the morning – something Alex had already figured out and this was her first flight into space. Alex supposed that wasn't totally unusual. Alex had been on flights to space since she was a kid – nothing big, usually just to the outpost on the moon where her father had sometimes worked in a lab.

I guess if I want to learn more about her, I'm going to have to ask her myself, Alex thought. She wished she could ask Kara her advice on that as Kara was a natural when it came to talking to people - something that came in handy in her job. Kara would know what to say to Maggie to put her at ease and get her answering any question.

Alex on the other hand, well there was a reason her dating history could be described as a reoccurring natural disaster. She simply had an inability to connect with people, which is why she had frankly given up trying. In the lab, things made sense to her and even when they didn't, she saw it as a challenge that she wanted to figure out.

Maybe if she viewed Maggie like that it wouldn't be as bad, she thought. After all, having seen this interview it would be a challenge.

…

As it was, it took Alex a couple of days to figure out a good opener to a conversation with Maggie while they were sitting having lunch together. Maggie has been working on something at another table but came over to sit with Alex when she came down. She thought it curious that Maggie never asked how things were going in terms of her research into hibernation. Even if Maggie was skeptical of their chances, Alex assumed she would at least be curious about it.

Alex looked over at the table Maggie had been sitting at which had parts and tools scattered all over it.

"So, what was the very first thing you ever fixed?" Alex asked.

The question appeared to catch her off guard as she had been about to take a bite of her food. She held a finger up to indicate to Alex to wait and she finished off her bite.

"I was always taking things apart as a kid, even my own toys," Maggie said. "I guess the first real significant fix I ever made though was a lawnmower when I was seven."

"Seven is kind of young to be taking a lawnmower apart."

Maggie shrugged, "It had broken down and my dad was thinking he would have to buy a new one. I didn't think he was very happy about that so I thought I would take a look at it. At that age, I didn't think I was doing any harm to something that was already broken. I disassembled it within hours and figured out the problem was with the starter and it was old anyway so I thought why not make some modifications. I think I spend like three days on it, like non-stop. And when I was done, it worked better than it had before."

"Your dad must have been happy he didn't have to buy a new one."

"Yeah, you would have thought so," Maggie said. "But not my dad. But it didn't deter me. I was hooked and have been taking things apart ever since."

Alex really wanted to know why Maggie's father hadn't been happy about but she figured it wasn't a good story or Maggie would have expanded on it.

"What made you leave Earth behind and come out here?"

Maggie got a thoughtful look on her face and was silent for so long that Alex was beginning to think that Maggie wasn't going to answer.

"On Earth, we don't really fix things anymore," Maggie said. "If something breaks, we just replace with new. We don't value the idea of fixing things on Earth. It's wasteful, but we don't have that out here. We don't have an infinite supply of everything so that means there are going to be times when things break and they will need fixed and those are the kinds of things I can do. Those are the things I want to do."

Alex listened to the passion in Maggie's voice and then she felt sad that these circumstances would keep Maggie from that life if she didn't find a way to get them back in stasis.

"Was it a hard decision for you?" Alex asked. "To leave everything behind and come out here?"

Maggie shook her head no. "Not really," she said. "I was a little worried about paying for it, but because I have what is considered a needed skill for a new planet, the company gave me a deep discount. That is one thing I think they did right – making sure they weren't just sending a bunch of trust funders up here."

"People like me you mean?"

"No," Maggie said quickly. "I didn't mean …"

"It's ok," Alex said. "I was just messing with you. I happen to agree with you. To build a brand new civilization, which is essentially what we are doing, you need people of diverse backgrounds and skills. Part of the reason that Kara wanted to come out here was because she wants to document it all. If you think about it, we are on a 120-year trip and we weren't even the first colony ship to leave Earth but we have no idea what life is like on those colony planets. Kara is hoping to write about it so generations long past ours will know what it was like from the very beginning. She wants to interview everyone – a lofty task, given how many people are on this trip, but you can't really deter Kara once she has some idea in mind."

"What about you?" Maggie asked. "What is it that you want to do out here on a whole new world?"

"We're going to a planet on the edge of the known universe," Alex said. "There has to be life beyond it. I've spent my whole life looking up at the stars and I'm not ready to stop doing that. I have always like the idea that we aren't alone, that there is life unlike ours out there."

"Have you been to the observation deck yet?" Maggie asked suddenly.

She shook her head no and Maggie smiled at her. "Come on," Maggie said.

Alex hadn't actually explored much of the ship so she let Maggie lead the way. Maggie stopped in front of a door and smiled once more at her before indicating that Alex should enter first. Alex did took a couple of steps forward and the doors opened for her and she stopped after only a few steps into the room. In front of her was a panorama view of outside of the station.

Standing just inside the door, Maggie was still smiling as she saw Alex approach the center of the room in awe of the view. When Alex had mentioned looking up at the stars, she thought that Alex might enjoy seeing them a little closer.

She had already learned a little more about Alex and Kara by watching the mandatory interviews they all had to go through before boarding the ship, so she knew that this wasn't Alex's first time in space. Still, Alex seemed liked someone who would appreciate a room like this.

While they had spoken, Maggie felt like they hadn't really connected. It was partly her fault she knew because she didn't like talking about herself much. And Alex was spending most of her time and mental energy on solving their problem.

Maggie had begun to think it was going to be a long lifetime being here with just Alex.

It's not like she didn't understand. She too had been obsessed with finding a way to get back into hibernation. She knew Alex would have to go at her own pace and come to the conclusion in her own time.

"It's beautiful," Alex said. She hadn't turned toward Maggie to say it, her eyes still on the stars, so Maggie didn't know if it was directed toward her or not.

It did prompt Maggie to move closer to her. She hadn't come into this room in a long time because every time she did it made her feel more alone. But having Alex there and seeing her expression of joy was enough for Maggie.

"I'm glad you like it," Maggie said.

"It's so different," Alex said. "I mean from seeing it on a view screen. This whole trip we are on, it was all mapped out, but it wasn't anything like this."

"You looked at the map?"

"Of course, didn't you?"

"No," Maggie said. "How we were getting there wasn't as important as the destination."

"I suppose," Alex said. "But the journey can sometimes be just as important as the destination."

"In our case, the journey is all we got," Maggie said and then immediately regretted it when she saw the look on Alex's face. Alex turned from her, again looking at out at the expanse. "Sorry, I didn't mean …"

"It's ok," Alex interrupted her although she didn't turn to face her when she said it.

Feeling the shift in moods, Maggie backed up toward the door. "Well, I'll leave you to it then," Maggie said, escaping the room before Alex could respond.


	6. Chapter 6

Maggie still felt bad about how she had left things the other day with Alex after showing her the observation deck. She knew Alex was still all new to this – that she still had hope that they could fix this. But Maggie worried about the day Alex came to the realization that not every problem could be fixed and they were most likely going to die long before they ever reached Kronos II.

As hard as it was for her, she thought it would be worse for Alex because of Kara still being asleep. Maggie had already taken the thought to the logical conclusion – that Kara would one day wake and find out her sister had died while she slept.

Of course, she didn't know Kara but she could easily assume it would devastate her.

Maggie decided she needed to be more supportive of Alex, try and make things easier for her than they were when she woke up.

It was why she was now bouncing a basketball as she stepped off the lift on Alex's floor. Going to the door, she realized she hadn't actually seen the inside of Alex's room, but she assumed it was much like her commandeered suite.

She hit the panel next to the door and a moment later the doors were opening to reveal Alex. Maggie knew Alex's routine by now, which is why she knew that Alex would be in her room studying the hibernation problem.

"Did you know that part of colony life is staying active and in section 11 paragraph A of the colonist training manual, it suggests that you engage in activities with other colonists in order to not only maintain your own health but learn more about others in the new community you are building?" Maggie said.

"I was unaware, wait, did you memorize the colonist training manual?" Alex asked.

"Maybe. So how about it, want to engage in activities with me?" Maggie asked holding up the basketball.

Alex looked back in the room and Maggie knew that Alex was probably trying to weigh going with her, with how much work and study she felt she needed to do. And as much as she wanted to tell Alex to just give it a rest for at least an hour, she kept her mouth shut, knowing Alex needed to make the decision on her own.

"Sure," Alex said finally. "I'll need to change real quick, come in."

Maggie stepped in slowly and took in her surroundings. The bottom part of the suite was like hers, except Alex had various data pads scattered around – most likely with information on hibernation. Otherwise, this part was rather spartan, much like Maggie's had been when she first took it over.

Her quarters weren't as clean as she had various parts of machinery laying around. She liked to work in different spots – sometimes in her room, sometimes down in the eating area and she had set up a workbench down in cargo so she would be close to parts she may need.

Alex went up the stairs where Maggie assumed like her quarters, the bedroom was at. Maggie took a seat on the couch and noticed a photo on a stand nearby so she got up and lifted it up to look at it. It was a picture of two women dressed formally with Alex standing next to one of them with her arm around her.

"Is this Kara and Lena's wedding?" Maggie yelled up to her.

"Yes," Alex replied.

"They look happy."

"They were, they are," Alex responded. "Happiest day of my sister's life, or so she says to anyone that will sit and listen to her talk about Lena for more than 30 seconds. She was taken by Lena the moment she met her and used to be completely awful at pretending she wasn't. Not that Lena doesn't also gush about Kara, but at least Lena wasn't tripping over her own tongue the first few times she spoke to Kara."

"How did they meet?"

"Kara's job. She was sent to do a story on Lena and LutherCorp. Unlike everyone else, Kara had no preconceived notions about who Lena was or what she would be like. I used to think my sister was just naïve or too innocent because she always took people at their word even when she shouldn't. But seeing her with Lena, I don't know, I think maybe it's Kara's nature to see the good in people and make those people want to be good to live up to that standard."

"Who did you go to the wedding with – someone new who hadn't reached photo status?"

"No, I didn't have a date. I was the maid of honor and was much too busy making sure things were perfect for Kara."

Maggie had watched Alex's bio video that they were all required to do. She had been completely disinterested in the whole idea of it, but Alex appeared to take it a little more seriously than she had, although she didn't look very comfortable sitting there answering questions. But about all she gathered from Alex's video besides she adored her little sister was that she always seemed "much too busy."

It was part of why she thought she should get Alex out of her routine and maybe have some fun. Alex seemed like a nice person, but also maybe a bit too rigid.

At times Maggie felt like she knew more about Kara – someone she had never actually met – than she did Alex. Hopefully, this little athletic excursion would help loosen her up a bit.

She was about to ask her another question, but it got lost somewhere when she saw Alex coming down the stairs in a pair of shorts and T-shirt. Of course, Maggie knew Alex was fit, but seeing her like this was a whole other matter.

"Are you ready?" Alex asked, completely oblivious to where Maggie's eyes had been.

"Yeah," Maggie said, grateful that Alex hadn't caught her staring.

Maggie led the way out of the room, although Alex quickly moved in place beside her. They made it down to the court and Maggie activated it.

"Whoa," Alex said, as she looked at the screen that showed all the high scores – all of which belonged to Maggie.

"Not a lot of competition," Maggie said.

"Well that is about to change," Alex said.

"Oh, you think you have what it takes to knock me off the high score list?" Maggie said, passing her the ball.

"I don't know," Alex said dribbling the ball and then taking a shot which went in cleanly. "I do know at your height you won't be dunking on me."

"I see how it is," Maggie said, retrieving the ball. "Let's see what you got Danvers."

Two sweaty games of one-on-one later, the two women left – both with smiles on their faces. Maggie had won both games, but Alex had put up a fight, nearly taking the first game before Maggie remembered what it was like to have real competition.

"Thanks for the invite," Alex said.

"You're welcome," Maggie replied. "I'm glad you came. It was nice to play a game against someone for once."

"Well next time I intend to win."

Maggie smiled at this. "So, there is going to be a next time?"

"Most definitely, I don't like losing," Alex said. "Besides, I heard somewhere that engaging in activities with others is part of colony life."

"Someone pretty wise must have laid that wisdom on you," Maggie said.

"She's pretty good at basketball too," Alex said. "Thanks again. But I should probably go shower."

"Yeah, me too," Maggie said. "But maybe we could have dinner later."

She saw Alex pause and Maggie wondered if she was pausing because she was thinking about the work she already lost out on by playing basketball.

"Could we maybe eat some place other than the cafeteria?" Alex asked.

"Sure," Maggie smiled. "I will pick you up at say 8?"


	7. Chapter 7

Maggie changed her shirt for the third time, knowing she needed to make a decision on what to wear and quickly.

The problem was she wasn't sure if she was just going to dinner with Alex in like a casual thing or if this was maybe sort of a date. She hadn't really asked it like it was a date, but then again it was Alex who suggested they eat some place nicer.

In the end, she realized she was being foolish. Of course, this wasn't a date and besides as one of only two people awake on this ship she really didn't feel the need to compete for Alex's attention or anything.

Dressed casually, but nicely, she hit the pad beside Alex's door to alert her that she was there – on time she might add. When the door opened, Maggie just stood there openly staring at Alex who was wearing a short, red dress.

"I suddenly feel underdressed," Maggie said, forcing herself to tear her eyes away from Alex's body and at least look her in the eyes. "Should I go change?"

Alex smiled at her. "No, of course not. I guess I just felt like dressing up for a change," she said.

"Well, you look very nice."

"Thank you. Now, where are we dining tonight?"

This time Maggie was smiling as she offered Alex her arm, which Alex immediately took. "Tonight, we eat at the finest establishment that Krypton has to offer."

Maggie led the way while explaining that they would be dining at a place called the Four Corners, which had an amazing variety of food from Earth from Thai to creole and Italian, Japanese and American barbeque. She also explained that she had found a quirk in the system that while her bronze class ID kept her restricted in what she could get in the cafeteria, once a week Winn had the ability to give a "recommendation" to a restaurant to a passenger which allowed that passenger to eat there unrestricted.

She had been on the ship for four months before she found it out.

Part of the reason Maggie chose Four Corners was because she didn't really know what kinds of foods Alex liked so she thought this might be a good way to learn more about her.

Maggie made a bit of a show of looking at the menu even though she had memorized it a while ago, but she didn't want to rush Alex into making any sort of decision. Alex ended up choosing a dish from the Greek menu while Maggie chose Chinese.

They engaged in some small talk – or rather trash talk about their basketball game – before the food came.

"So, I have a confession," Alex said after they had begun eating. "I watched your video, you know the ones we had to do for this trip."

"Thrilling wasn't it," Maggie smiled. "Don't worry, I watched yours too."

"I'm sorry you put yourself through that," Alex joked.

"I wish they hadn't have bothered with the whole thing, I mean if people are going to get to know each other it's not going to be through some short video."

"Is that why you didn't answer any of the questions?" Alex asked.

"What, I answered them."

"Right, because when people ask where you are from Earth is a perfectly reasonable answer."

"It's a true answer."

"Well, besides Earth, where are you from?"

"Blue Springs, Nevada," Maggie said, taking a bite and hoping that would be the last Alex asked about it.

"Nevada, can't say I have ever been there."

"You aren't missing much," Maggie commented. "What about you, your video said National City, but is that where you were born?" She figured if she changed the topic back to Alex then maybe she could avoid topics best left alone.

"No, I was born in Midvale," Alex said. "I only moved to National City because of a job offer. Kara ended up looking for jobs there as well once she was finished with college and she lived with me for a bit at first until she got a place on her own. We used to do these sister nights where we would watch movies at my place, order takeout and just catch up on each other's lives – not that we weren't constantly communicating with each other practically every day, but still it was nice."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but do you ever talk about yourself without mentioning your sister?" Maggie asked.

When Alex didn't answer immediately Maggie thought she had probably said the wrong thing. She was sure of it when Alex put her fork down.

"I don't know, I guess maybe I do that a lot," Alex said. "It's just that ever since our father died, I've always felt like it was my duty to keep an eye on Kara, keep her safe. When the Daxamite invasion happened, she was still really young and our mom was busy all the time it seemed so it fell to me to make sure Kara was ok. Do you remember what it was like back then?"

"Of course, I do," Maggie said. "I don't think any of us who lived through it will ever forget it. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for your family after your dad …"

"It felt like we didn't have time to grieve you know because there were aliens on our planet attacking us for reasons that still haven't been completely discovered," Alex said. "When the government officials first showed up the door to tell us about the Nautilus, Kara hadn't wanted to believe it was true. I think she held onto that belief that somehow, somewhere out here our father was still alive."

"But not you?"

"No, I was always the more practical of the two of us," Alex said. "My mind immediately went to the things that would have to be handled that dad normally did. There were times I felt more like a second mother to Kara than her sister."

By the expression on her face and the pause after she said it, Maggie wondered if this was a new realization of Alex's or if she was merely surprised she said it out loud. Either way, Maggie decided the dinner conversation had taken a too serious turn.

"So, growing up, did you always dream of being a doctor or did you have some off-the-wall fantasy – you know besides traveling 120 years in a sleep state to get to a planet you have never seen?" Maggie asked.

Alex picked up her fork again. "I will answer that if you answer the same question first."

"Fair, but I can tell you unequivocally that I have never dreamt of being a doctor," Maggie smiled. "Actually, I really did always want to become a mechanical engineer although when I was a kid I didn't know that was the name for what I was doing when I took things apart and put them back together again – better I might add. I wasn't sure I would be able to afford my schooling though so I briefly thought about becoming a cop because the course work was cheaper."

"Officer Maggie Sawyer, that has a nice ring to it," Alex smiled back at her. "I can practically see you holding up your badge all authoritative like."

"Are you making fun of me Danvers?"

"What's the matter, can't handle a little teasing?"

Maggie suddenly thought of a different type of teasing she wouldn't mind engaging in. Then another thought occurred to her – was Alex flirting with her?

She supposed there was only one way to find out and that was to flirt back.

"Careful Dr. Danvers, how do you know I don't have my handcuffs with me?"

"I guess I will just have to behave then," Alex replied.

Ok, Maggie thought, not flirting. It had been a while since she had been out on a date so maybe she was just misinterpreting things. She ended up turning the conversation to more casual topics, mostly asking questions about Alex and avoiding getting too personal about herself.

After dinner, they went and had a couple of drinks at the bar with Winn. She got to watch Winn doing the whole bartender routine with Alex and it reminded her of her interactions with Winn in the beginning. Now, despite that fact that he was an android, she felt like they had more casual talks than what she was currently observing. It wouldn't be that long before Alex got that way with him – after all, they had nothing but time on their hands.

While she tried not to think about it, it seemed her mind always turned back to that thought. And now Alex was sharing that same fate with her even if the other woman hadn't resigned herself to it yet.

"I'm really glad you wanted to have dinner tonight," Maggie said suddenly. "I mean a nicer dinner than the cafeteria."

"Well thanks for handling our reservations and everything," Alex smiled.

"Yes, it's a hard place to get into, but you are lucky I have connections," Maggie replied.

"How are your connections at the movie theater, do you think you can get us good seats?"

"You want to go watch a movie?"

"Unless you aren't interested," Alex said. "I don't want to hijack your entire evening, but I thought you know the night is still young."

"Even if you were hijacking my evening, I would be perfectly fine with that," Maggie said. "I would love to see a movie with you, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You pick the flick."

"But you should have some input in that decision. I don't even know what kinds of movies you like."

"I know you don't, but how am I going to learn what kinds of movies you like if I don't let you pick," Maggie said. "You can tell a lot about a person by what kinds of movies they like."

"Is that so," Alex replied. "In that case, I will pick the film, but next time you choose."

"Look at you being all confident that there is a next time."

"There will be," Alex smiled. "Now let's go before we miss our showtime."


	8. Chapter 8

Alex was sitting in her chair next to Kara's pod, telling her about how she spent her evening.

"We watched that old sci-fi movie you would never watch with me, you know Aliens," Alex said. "She said it was my choice and I think I managed to surprise her with it. You remember how dad loved to watch old sci-fi shows and no matter how cheesy they were or how bad the special effects were, there I would be right next to him."

"Of course, you wanted no part of it. 'Too scary' you said," Alex continued. "But Maggie, she really seemed to get a kick out of it. Although she did joke when we parted ways that she wasn't going to be able to sleep last night because she would dream of aliens popping out of her body. But there she was at breakfast this morning, all smiles."

"You should see her smile. She has these dimples and it's just …" Alex paused.

She had been thinking a lot about those dimples since last night. She had thought about more than just her dimples.

Maggie was extremely attractive, and Alex was confident Maggie was gay if not bi, but still Alex didn't think that was a line she should cross with the other woman.

Not that she had any indication that Maggie wanted to cross that line either. Plus, she barely knew Maggie.

They were strangers who only met each other because their pods malfunctioned. Alex didn't normally feel alone, despite spending a lot of time alone. Her work often meant long hours of working independently and she didn't have many close friends. She always had Kara but the time they spent together had gone down a bit with Lena in her life.

Being alone didn't bother Alex, but it was different up here. She felt nothing but alone except for her interactions with Maggie. It meant she had to be careful, she thought, careful to keep that interaction with Maggie stable in order for them to continue to live here together as the only two people awake.

If only Kara was here for her to speak to, she thought.

Alex felt the sadness she had felt almost constantly since waking up hit her again. It washed over her and then she shook it off, knowing the only way not to feel this way was to get herself and Maggie back into hibernation.

"Sorry Kara and Lena, just a short visit today, I need to get back to work."

…

Maggie wasn't sure what was up with Alex over the past two weeks. The other woman had been working obsessively, trying to find a way back into hibernation. It was becoming all-consuming to her even more so than when she was first woken up.

While Maggie had tried a couple of times to get her to take a break, she had been unsuccessful, so she gave up. She remembered what it was like for her in those first weeks and months of being awake, so she knew this was something Alex had to go through, needed to go through.

So, Maggie continued about her own life until Alex was ready.

It wasn't as if Maggie was indifferent to all of it, but she felt like non-interference was her best bet here.

At first Maggie thought that maybe this was a reaction to her non-date with Alex as it started the day after it but the first time she had tried to get Alex on the court for a rematch and been turned down she made a wisecrack about not wanting to spend time with her. Alex had immediately spoke up to say it wasn't that and she just needed to concentrate.

For Maggie it meant going back to her own routine, which she could readily admit wasn't easy now. Before when she was alone and she had no choice but be alone it wasn't easy. But now Alex was here yet Maggie was still alone.

She spent most her time in the storage area. The ship had a massive amount of stuff on it in addition to the materials that had already been shipped to the planet in bulk. As part of each passenger's fare was the inclusion of needed materials. If things had gone according to plan she would have gotten to the planet and would have arranged for transport her materials for her property. There were drones and robots who would have already been on the planet building structures such as houses as predetermined by the passengers.

On her property it was a modest cabin.

She would have liked to have been involved with the actual building, but she understood that logistically these homes needed to be there when they arrived. Still, it didn't mean Maggie couldn't make modifications or add on, which she had planned on doing. Recently she had been considering that cabin a lot. She has the schematics and what it looked like, so she had begun a process – at least digitally- of working on it. Some might think this was nothing more than a way to torture herself, but Maggie found the exercise relaxing. While she would never ever see the planet or her home on it, in her mind at least it would be perfect.

She wondered what kind of home Alex had ordered. She didn't know her nearly well enough to guess at that, but she was sure it would be bigger than her own. She was sure Kara and Lena's place would be.

Lena Luther. She hadn't asked Alex much about her sister-in-law, but she couldn't help but wonder why someone from one of the richest families on Earth would take a trip like this. The Earth had many problems but with their wealth, the Luthers she was sure were immune to most of it.

Instead of thinking about it, Maggie brought up a vid screen and searched for the name Luther and found Lena's and Kara's interview video which they had apparently chosen to do together as a couple.

After going through the introductions of who they were the interviewer launched into the standard questions.

"What made you decide to make Kronos II your new home?"

Kara, with what seemed like a permanent smile on her face, glanced first at her wife who nodded slightly to tell her to go ahead and answer it.

"It's going to be an adventure," Kara said. "This is a whole new world, why wouldn't anyone jump at the chance to be a part of this. We're going to be living history and for me to be a part of that and to be able to be able to record that history – well what could be better?"

The interviewer then turned to Lena. "What about you Mrs. Luther, why did you choose to leave all you had on Earth to go out into the unknown?"

"Are you suggesting I let my wife go without me?" Lena responded.

Maggie couldn't help but laugh at that and at how flustered the interviewer now got. She immediately began to like Lena.

The interview continued with more questions and from their answers, Maggie could tell Kara and Lena loved each other very much. It was near the end that the interviewer said, "I understand your sister is also coming on this journey with you, was this something you planned on doing together once you heard about it?"

Kara smiled broadly at the mention of Alex, but she didn't exactly answer the question Maggie noticed.

"It means everything to me to have the two most important people in my life with me – my wife and my sister," Kara said. "I can't imagine doing this without them."

But you are going to have to, Maggie thought, at least without Alex there. Feeling more depressed now, she closed the vid screen and made her way up to the lounge area where Winn was ready to serve her.

"The usual?" he asked.

She nodded as she took a seat and waited for him to give her the drink. Once he had, she cupped it in her hands but made no move to actually drink it.

"Do you think I have it easier than Alex because I have no one else on this ship? I mean she has her sister and her sister-in-law down there continuing to sleep and me, I have no one else. Does that mean I have it easier?"

"But you have Alex," Winn said.

"I don't have Alex. I barely know her," Maggie responded, taking her first drink.

"Then you get to know her."

"I tried, but she is much too busy trying to find a way back into hibernation," Maggie said. "If it weren't for it just being her and I awake, I doubt she and I would ever had exchanged words with each other."

She took another drink and considered what she had just said – would she and Alex have ever met each other under the normal circumstances of this trip? She didn't see how as she doubted she would have made friends with any of the gold class passengers.

The truth was she was worried about Alex. She knew the endgame here, but Alex refused to believe it. They were both going to die on this ship. Neither of them would ever see Kronos II and Alex would never see her sister awake again.

And at some point, Alex was going to realize it.

After all, Maggie had gotten to that point too and it had nearly broken her for good. Maybe it had broken her. How many years could she have gone being alone? She didn't know the answer, and when she saw Alex there on the concourse for the first time she didn't have to think about it.

Alex would get to a breaking point – at least in her quest to get them back into hibernation. One day she would realize they were doomed and that was the day Maggie was concerned about. She had no idea how Alex would handle it. From what she knew of Alex, she knew Alex had already overcome hardship with the death of her father, but this was something completely different.

The only thing Maggie could do was sit back and wait for it to happen and when it did, she would have to do whatever she could to help Alex through it.

….

Alex entered the bar area and took a seat.

"Good morning Alex, what can I get you?" Winn asked.

"Rum and coke."

As soon as the drink was in in front of her, she took two quick swallows, which she quickly followed up with two long swallows draining the glass completely.

"Another, please."

"Certainly," Winn said.

He placed it in front of her and she took another quick drink.

"If you don't mind me saying, you are here early," Winn commented as it was just after 5 a.m.

"Or here late depending on how you want to look at it," Alex said.

"Up late?"

"Yes," Alex said. "I've been trying to find some way to get back into hibernation, some way to fix this and … I failed. Story of my life."

Alex downed the drink and ordered another.

"I'm just a failure," Alex said, taking another drink.

…

Maggie was surprised when the intercom system went off while she was eating her breakfast.

"Maggie, could you come to the bar please," she heard Winn say.

Well, this was just odd enough for her to quickly get moving. She was actually running into the bar when she stopped part way in when she saw Alex passed out at the bar. Moving more slowly she approached Alex who didn't register her being there at all.

"Thank you," she whispered to Winn, as she gently began to wake Alex just enough to get her on her feet.

It took a while for her to get Alex back to her room, including when they stopped once for Alex to puke in a hallway. Luckily, the clean up robots would take care of it so she wouldn't have to. Maggie swiped Alex's bracelet to enter the suite and got Alex up to the bedroom and onto the bed. Alex groaned as she rolled over on her side.

Maggie took off Alex's shoes, put a blanket over her and then got a glass of water to put at her bedside. She was about to leave when she turned back and took Alex's bracelet off, approached the door terminal and swiped it so she could access Alex's room security and she gave herself access so she could check on her.

Leaving the room, she wondered what prompted Alex to get drunk first thing in the morning. She knew that Alex would occasionally go get a drink, but she never knew her to get drunk like this. It made her wonder if Alex had finally hit that wall.

It was a couple of hours later and Maggie went in to check on her and like she was before, she was completely unconscious.

Another a couple of hours later, she went to check again and again Alex was out cold. Maggie kept the routine up of checking on her every couple of hours – occasionally she would see that Alex at least moved and once she even saw that Alex drank some water so she refilled it.

It was more than 10 hours later when she arrived at the door a rang for entry – she never just entered on her own despite giving herself access. She was surprised when Alex answered the door, although she looked like she would still rather be in bed.

Alex didn't seem to understand why Maggie was there.

"Hi," Maggie said. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm ok," Alex said, but a moment later she was running back into her room, straight for the toilet. Maggie followed her in, standing by for her to finish before handing her the towel that was hanging nearby.

"Thanks," Alex said getting up. "Um … sorry, I um …"

"You got drunk and passed out," Maggie said. "I got you back here when Winn let me know you were lights out at the bar."

"I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize," Maggie said. "We've all been there."

Alex exited the bathroom and laid down on her couch, putting her arm over her eyes.

"Do you need me to bring you anything to eat?"

"No food."

"Ok," Maggie said. "Well, I'll leave you to it then."

She exited the room, deciding it wasn't time to talk to Alex about why she was drinking like that.

It was two days later when Alex approached her while she was down in storage. She had been working on one of the cleaning bots once more – the third time this unit had broken down so she was perplexed as to why.

"Hi," Alex said. "What are you working on?"

"Broken bot," Maggie said, gesturing to the machine she had pulled apart.

"Isn't that odd that those are breaking?"

"Odd yes, but then again, I haven't trusted this ship since the day I woke up."

Alex moved around the area, just looking. Maggie was fairly certain that Alex had never been down here before.

"What brings you down here?" Maggie asked.

"I came to say thank you, for the other day," Alex said.

"You're welcome."

There was a pause before Alex spoke again. "I don't know why I did that, but thanks for taking me back to my room."

"But you do know," Maggie responded. "You don't just drink like that without a reason."

Again there was silence before Alex spoke. "I haven't given up," she said. "I haven't."

"I didn't say you had," Maggie said.

"There has to be a way," Alex said. "I don't understand how you could just …"

"Just what?"

"Give up."

"Is that what you think I did?" Maggie said. "How dare you. Do you have any idea what I went through? I was ready to break into that damn crew cabin and wake every damn one of them up no matter if I was damning them to this life, a life that will end long before we ever get to Kronos II. A life that will end Alex. So instead of asking me why I gave up, you should ask yourself why you won't just accept it."

She got up and left, having no desire to speak to or see Alex.

…

It was more than week before Maggie saw Alex again, and that was only because Alex came down to the cafeteria to get something to eat while Maggie was there. Neither woman said anything to each other as they sat several tables apart.

Maggie knew that continuing on like this would not be good for either one of them, but she wasn't about to be the one to break the silence war.

She did notice that Alex wasn't looking like her normal self – her clothes were wrinkled and she had dark circles under her eyes. She assumed Alex was continuing on her non-stop quest.

Finishing her meal first, Maggie got up and left heading back down to her home away from home down in the storage decks.

It was another few days before Maggie saw Alex again.

She had been working on one of the motors for a lift and realized she was missing one of her tools. Going down to the storage area she looked everywhere, but didn't find it and so checked her room. Again she hadn't found it. She sat down on the bed trying to think where it might be. She was confident that she had packed it for her voyage – hell she had triple checked that all her tools were packed.

Then she recalled the one time she used it on the ship.

Sighing, she made her way up to the crew decks. Well, she thought, this at least gives me an excuse to clean up the mess I made. She hadn't been back up there since she had stopped trying to get into the crew quarters to wake someone. She had left behind some tools and equipment – only one piece that actually belonged to her and the one she currently needed – and all that stuff was just scattered in the hall outside the impenetrable door.

As soon as she stepped off the lift, she stopped, hearing a loud banging which caused her to start running. But again, she stopped as she rounded the corner and saw Alex there swinging a sledgehammer at the door, an almost primal growl spilling from her as she did it.

Maggie watched as Alex repeated the action several more times before she stumbled backwards. Dropping the sledgehammer, Alex moved to her side, reached down and pulled up a bottle that she drank directly from.

"You murderers!" Alex yelled at the door.

The wall, Maggie thought, Alex finally hit the wall. Still, Maggie made no move to go toward her, letting the scene play out as long as it needed to.

"You fucking murderers," Alex yelled and she used her free hand to start slapping the door. "You killed me. You killed me!"

Alex stepped back, drank down the rest of the bottle and threw it at the door full force, it shattered and glass came back at her but she just stood there.

This time, Maggie did move.

She approached quietly and slowly, scanning to see if Alex had hurt herself in anyway.

"Alex," she said softly when she was within a couple of steps of her.

Alex turned her head. "They killed me."

"I know," Maggie said moving closer and touching her arm. "Come on, there is nothing here for us."

She led Alex back to the lift, again checking to see if Alex was harmed in anyway. Alex wavered a couple of times as they walked but Maggie wasn't sure it was from drinking. The other woman's eyes were bloodshot and the circles under her eyes were more pronounced than a few days ago.

"When is the last time you slept?" Maggie asked.

"I … I don't know, I don't care," Alex replied.

Maggie didn't press the issue, instead she waited patiently for the lift to take them to the deck where Alex's quarters were located and then she led Alex to her room.

"You need to sleep," Maggie said even as Alex simply took a seat on the couch burying her head in her hands.

"I'm never going to get to talk to my sister again," Alex said.

Maggie didn't know how to respond because the truth was Alex would never speak to Kara again. She took a seat beside her.

"You're exhausted," she said. "You need to rest."

"I failed," she said sitting up and looking at Maggie. "I couldn't save us. We're going to die because I wasn't good enough."

"This isn't your fault."

"I wasn't even supposed to be here."

Maggie didn't know what that was supposed to mean and talking to Alex now was not going to be productive.

She got to her feet and pulled Alex up. "Bed. Now."

Alex reluctantly got moving up the stairs to her bedroom but she paused and turned back to Maggie. "Will you stay? Until I get to sleep. I don't want to be alone."

"Of course," Maggie said following her up the stairs.


	9. Chapter 9

A couple of days had passed since Alex had her breakdown and Maggie left her alone. As promised, she had stayed in Alex's room until she fell asleep that night and then she returned to her own quarters thinking about how she might be able to help Alex going forward. She hadn't had anyone when she had gone through the realization she was alone and going to die on the ship, so she wanted Alex to know she wasn't alone.

The first day after it happened Maggie was pretty sure Alex never left her room. On day two, Alex had gone down to the hibernation bay but beyond that, Maggie wasn't even sure she had gone anywhere else or even eaten.

It was why on day three, Maggie was at Alex's door.

"Hey," Maggie said, when Alex answered the door. "Do you want go get something to eat?"

"I'm not hungry," Alex said and then she took off her bracelet. "Here, take it, order whatever you want."

"I wasn't asking because I want a better meal selection," Maggie pointed out. "I was asking so that you would come and eat. When is the last time you ate something?"

"I'll eat when I'm hungry, now do you want the bracelet or not?"

Maggie shook her head. "Ok, I'll tell you what. It's breakfast now. I will come back at lunch. If you turn me down then, at dinner time, I will drag you out of that room and force feed you if I have to. I have plenty of time on my hands so I don't mind babysitting."

She turned around, not waiting for a response that she didn't figure she was going to get anyway. It's not like she didn't understand what Alex was going through – hell, she went through it first, but she didn't want Alex withdrawing from what little life they had here on the ship. It led to dangerous thoughts in your head.

Maggie didn't feel like eating breakfast after speaking with Alex so she returned to her cabin project until lunch when she returned to Alex's door. This time Alex didn't even bother to answer. Maggie wasn't surprised but now she was going to need to make a decision about what to do at dinner time. She really had hoped that Alex wouldn't force her hand, but it was going to happen and Maggie needed to decide just how far to push it.

Again, Maggie skipped the meal and headed to the lower decks, but instead of going to the storage area she ended up down in the hibernation area. She didn't care for this area mostly because she felt jealousy and resentment every time she was there and saw the sleeping people. She couldn't really say why she was there now, except she needed to think about what to do. She ended up over by Kara's pod, sitting in the chair that Alex always sat in.

She sat there for a long while before she began to speak.

"I'm sorry," Maggie said, softly. "I'm sorry you're going to wake up and find out that Alex is gone. I don't even know why I'm apologizing but someone should. And I'm sure whatever bullshit apology you get from the company will be useless. Lena will be there for you though. It's not the same as having your sister, but at least you won't be alone. I watched your video, the one they made us record, and you two look happy and I just hope this, this mistake that caused Alex to wake won't keep you from having a happy life. I promise you though, I will keep an eye on Alex. I'll try to keep her from maybe not feeling as alone as you tend to feel out here.

"This is going to sound awful, but when I first saw Alex, I thought she was a hallucination, that I had finally gone crazy, and even when I realized she was real, I thought maybe this is my fault. Maybe I caused this because I was so alone for so long that I wished and wished that I didn't have to be alone anymore. I wished that there was someone here for me to talk to. And then there was Alex and while I know logically that this isn't my fault, that I didn't cause this, I still feel bad. I wish there was a way for her to return to hibernation. Even if I couldn't, I wish it for her. I wish for her to wake up and be with you and Lena.

"I don't know what it's like to have a sister," she continued. "But Alex, she talks about you all the time. You must have been really close. That is probably why she comes down here to talk to you. She wants to be near you and feel connected to you in any way she can. It's harder on her I think than me because she has you. She knows what she is losing. I don't have anything to lose but my life. That life for however long it lasts now includes your sister. Just know that she won't ever be alone as long as I breathe."

Maggie stayed there a moment more before getting up, looking down at Kara's sleeping form once more and then exiting from the closest door. She didn't notice Alex who had been coming down to see her sister and had stopped when she heard Maggie begin to speak.

…

Maggie approached Alex's door with a little apprehension. She wanted to avoid conflict with her so she had decided that if Alex didn't answer she would walk away. If she did answer and tried to argue with Maggie, she decided she would walk away.

It didn't mean she wouldn't continue to watch out for Alex. In fact, she planned on bringing a tray of food up and leaving it outside the door each day if she had to. She still had access to Alex's room because she had never told Alex about using the bracelet to give herself permission to go in the room. She didn't want to have to use that unless she had no choice.

But she would use it if she absolutely had to.

She pressed the panel next to the door to alert Alex that she had a visitor. A moment later the door opened.

"I'm hungry," Alex said.

"Oh, um … good," Maggie said. "So am I."

Alex nodded and exited the room. Alex and Maggie walked side by side not speaking and stayed not speaking all the way down to the cafeteria.

Alex swiped her bracelet and then turned to Maggie. "Order whatever you would like," she said before stepping aside.

"Thanks," Maggie said, and she stepped up and ordered and then took her tray and a seat. Alex ordered next and then came and took a seat across from her.

Alex took a couple of bites before Maggie took her first one.

"Thank you," Alex said after Maggie took a bite. "Thank you for being there for me."

"You're welcome," Maggie said.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, but Maggie didn't mind. She was just happy that Alex hadn't made an issue out of coming down there with her and that she was eating. Alex finished her meal first and discarded her tray. She stopped back over at the table afterward.

"Maybe tomorrow, I could get that rematch on the court."

"Sounds good," Maggie said.

"Ok," Alex said before walking away. Maggie smiled a little as she finished her meal.

…

Maggie hit another layup and turned to see Alex leaning over, her hands on her knees, clearly winded.

"Giving up?" Maggie asked.

Alex motioned for her to give her a moment and then stood up. "You were taking it easy on me the first time, weren't you?"

"Oh yeah," Maggie said. "I earned all those high scores." She bounced the ball over to Alex.

"I don't think that counts when you were the only one playing," Alex said.

"Well I don't see you giving me much competition."

"I'm sure if I had as much practice as you have had some of those high scores would be mine."

"Sure," Maggie said. "There are other things to do on this ship, feel free to suggest one that you think you can beat me at."

Alex stopped dribbling the ball. "Is there a pool table?"

"Yeah, in one of the rec rooms," Maggie answered.

Alex took a shot which missed and Maggie grabbed the rebound.

"I concede this game," Alex said. "Ever play pool?"

"I'm not bad," Maggie said.

Alex just smiled in return.

….

"This isn't fair," Maggie said as she watched Alex sink her third shot in a row.

"How is it any less fair than you kicking my ass at basketball?" Alex replied as she lined up her next shot.

"It's different because I'm not a professional basketball player but you are clearly a professional pool player."

Alex sunk her next shot, leaving her with the eight ball. "I'm not a professional, I've just played a lot."

"Where did you play?"

"Bars mostly," Alex said. "Eight ball side pocket."

She sunk it clean and then smiled at Maggie who tossed her stick onto the table.

"I know when to quit," Maggie said.

"Glad to know there is something I can beat you at."

"I'm sure there are more. The ship does actually have a lot you can do."

"Well, I'll make you a deal, I will keep practicing basketball if you practice pool so we can give each other some competition."

"Deal," Maggie said.


	10. Chapter 10

Maggie stood against the wall, watching Alex pause slightly before taking her shot but once she did the basketball swished though the hoop and Alex turned toward her with a smile. Her game had improved over the last several weeks once she learned to be a little more patient with her shots. She was almost ready for that rematch, although Maggie was sure she would still beat her.

These last few weeks had been the best Maggie had had since waking up. While she could tell there were still times sadness would hit Alex out of the blue, she had been better overall since her meltdown. If Alex was still trying to find a way to get them back into the hibernation pods she hadn't said anything to Maggie about it.

Alex still went down to visit her sister at least once a day Maggie noticed.

She and Alex saw each other every day – sometimes just at a meal, but other days they would spend hours with each other. One day they played laser tag throughout the ship and capped it off with a movie marathon and for the first time Maggie never once thought about their plight that day. Alex had an infectious laugh and just seeing her smile filled Maggie with joy.

And for once, Maggie didn't feel alone.

"Hey Sawyer," Alex said. "Ready for some pool."

Maggie groaned. "If we must."

While Alex had improved enough to be competitive with her at basketball, Maggie had not reached that level at pool. Alex was just too good.

They went straight from basketball to play pool – both women still slightly sweaty. Alex wasn't actually playing against her. Instead, she had Maggie playing pool by herself but discussing the shots ahead of time and giving her some tips.

After missing what she thought would be an easy shot, Maggie was about ready to throw the pool cue down and give up. Alex must have sensed her frustration.

"Here," Alex said, and she came over and pointed at the ball she wanted Maggie to target next. "It's all about angles. And not just the angles that you are hitting the ball with. Line up your shot."

Maggie did as instructed and as she was leaning over, the last thing she expected was to feel Alex's hands on her hips.

"Your hips should be at a slight angle with the table," Alex said.

Alex readjusted her slightly and then proceeded to adjust her arm as well. They were so close and Maggie wasn't thinking about playing pool at that moment.

"Take your shot," Alex said softly after stepping away.

Maggie forced herself to slow down, because she was sure she would miss the shot if she didn't. She felt Alex's eyes on her and she didn't want to mess this up. She took a breath and released it. She made sure she was still lined up properly and she took her shot – the sounds of the cue ball striking her target sounded right and she sunk her shot. She turned to Alex, who was smiling widely at her.

"See, you got it."

"Thanks to my teacher," Maggie said.

…

Maggie didn't know what to do – here she was sitting down in the cargo bay trying to work on her cabin, but she found her mind kept drifting to thoughts of Alex.

She knew what it was she was feeling – she was falling for the other woman and she didn't know what to do about it.

As the only two people awake on the ship, they were in a delicate situation and feelings could complicate things quickly. She was now 100 percent certain, Alex was into women, but that didn't really help matters. At least if she was straight, Maggie wouldn't have the thought of what if, but now she was consumed with thoughts of if she should say something.

They had grown closer as time passed but still, to say anything would alter their relationship – especially if she was rejected.

"Stop thinking about it," she said out loud.

"Stop thinking about what?" Alex asked as she came around the corner.

Shit, Maggie thought. Talking out loud to herself was a habit she had gotten into while she was alone on the ship – a need to hear a voice even her own.

"Um … stop thinking about how many revisions I have gone through on my house," Maggie said.

"You could always stop revising."

"No way," Maggie said. "It's got to be perfect."

There was a moment of silence before Alex spoke, "Can I ask you something?"

Maggie looked at her, sensing a nervousness all of a sudden in the other woman. "Of course."

"Why does it have to be perfect when you're …"

"When I'm never going to actually see it?" Maggie finished for her. Alex nodded.

"At this point, it's not about seeing it for real," Maggie said. "It's just comforting I guess to be able to work on. When I decided to come on this trip and started thinking about a place to live, I wanted to feel like a home because … because I haven't had one of those in a long time. So, I don't know, maybe someone else will get to experience living in my cabin and they will get to make it a home and for them it needs to be perfect."

Maggie was surprised herself by the answer and she could tell Alex wanted to ask her more – perhaps ask her something personal. Instead, Alex took a seat at the workbench.

"Will you show me?" Alex said. "Give me a tour of it."

"Sure," Maggie smiled, bringing up the schematics.

...

Alex lay in bed that night staring up at the ceiling. She had been awake for a while, unable to just shut her mind off. This would often happen to her when she was in the middle of a project and wanted nothing more than to be in a lab rather than having to waste time because her body at least told her it needed rest. But tonight, it wasn't a project that had kept her mind on, it was Maggie.

They had been growing closer as the days and weeks passed but she still felt like she didn't know Maggie. While Maggie knew all kinds of things about her, whenever Alex seemed to be delving into personal areas with her, Maggie would deflect the conversation. It was like earlier when Maggie said she hadn't had a home in a long time, Alex had immediately wanted to know why that was, but she didn't ask because she assumed it wasn't a welcome question.

She knew pretty much nothing about Maggie's family or what it was like for her growing up. Maggie might tell stories about her life, but they were all from being an adult and none of them seemed connected. It was like she didn't have anyone close to her – like a best friend – that she could talk about.

Alex certainly wasn't one to judge as it wasn't like she had best friend if you didn't count Kara. But with Maggie, it was like she didn't want anyone getting close to her.

When Maggie was giving her the virtual tour of the cabin and explaining some of the various changes she had already considered or rejected, Alex could hear the passion in her voice. Alex couldn't help but smile at how excited Maggie was to talk about it and Alex could almost picture it in her mind just from the way Maggie was describing it.

Maggie truly was trying to build a home.

It made Alex feel a little stupid when Maggie asked her what her home looked like. Alex's place was about as plain as plain could be – a simple rectangle structure that was dominated more by her lab than actual living quarters. She was fairly certain that her room on the ship was bigger than her bedroom at her place. But when Alex had to choose her house, she was looking at it from a very logical way of what the most use she would get out it and to her that was her lab. A lab was the place she felt the most comfortable so to her, making a house that was more workplace than home made sense to her.

Now she wondered if she had been looking at it wrong. Still, it hardly mattered now. She wasn't going to spend time revising it like Maggie did hers because it didn't mean anything to Alex. She was never going to get to live there so it really didn't matter.

She felt some of that despair creep back in and she was unable to stop it. It got like this for her sometimes when she thought about the inevitable ending to her life.

She continued to lay there for a while until she realized her mood and her mind weren't going to allow for sleep so instead she got up.

…

Maggie didn't see Alex at breakfast and while it was a little unusual as they had seen each other fairly consistently lately, she didn't think much of it. But when lunch came around Alex again wasn't there and Maggie did begin to wonder. She went to the nearest terminal and asked the computer for Alex's location – thankfully, their bracelets allowed the ship to keep track of its passengers. The computer replied that Alex was on the observation deck.

As she made her way up to the observation deck, Maggie considered turning around and going about her day. It wasn't like she had to know what Alex was doing with her time and often she didn't know but this felt different. Not since her breakdown had Alex missed meals like this so Maggie felt like she needed to at least go check on her.

As the doors swished open, she didn't see Alex immediately and when she did there was a surge of adrenaline as she saw Alex on the floor, her eyes closed.

"Alex!" Maggie said rushing over to her. But as she yelled her name, Alex startled awake and began to sit up as Maggie reached her. "Are you ok?"

"What? Yes," she said, yawning. "I'm fine, I just fell asleep."

"Are you sure you are ok?" Maggie asked, her heartbeat still racing as she looked Alex up and down to see if there was truly something wrong.

"I'm ok," Alex reassured her. "I was just sleeping."

"Why were you sleeping here?"

"It wasn't my intention," Alex said getting to her feet. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I ended up coming here early this morning. I laid down to look at the stars and well, I guess fell asleep. What time is it?"

"It's after noon," Maggie asked. "You weren't at breakfast or lunch, so I thought I should check on you. When I saw you there unconscious, my mind went to the worst possibility."

Alex put a hand on her Maggie's forearm. "I swear, I'm fine. I was tired is all. Back home, growing up, we had this elevated porch off of the roof that I could get to from my bedroom. I had a telescope out there that my dad helped me build and sometimes I would go out there and look at the stars. And yes, I have even fallen asleep out there sitting in a chair. There is something peaceful about the stars to me."

Maggie looked up – the skylight here exposing her to the universe in which they traveled. She could almost picture Alex coming in here and lying down and staring at this expanse. She made eye contact with Alex again, "Do you want to get a closer look at the stars?"

"You mean closer than this?"

"Yes," Maggie smiled, taking her hand. "Come on."

Maggie lead the way down to the one of the lower decks to where the hibernation pods were and past them to the door she had discovered all those months ago. It occurred to her suddenly that she hadn't been back there since but she wanted to be there now to show Alex this. They entered the room, and Alex stopped almost immediately.

"You weren't joking about a closer view," she said taking in the sight of the space suits.

"It's safe," Maggie said. "There are safety lines to keep us harnessed to the ship."

"So, you've actually done this before?"

"Yep," Maggie said. "It's indescribable."

"Ok," Alex smiled. "Let's do it."

It took a while for each of them to suit up, but once they did Maggie led them through the airlock, making sure their magnetic boots were both on.

"Are you ready?" Maggie asked, her hand on the release.

"Yes," Alex said.

Maggie pulled the lever and the airlock opened. She went out first with Alex right behind her. Soon they were standing side by side at the edge of the ship. She watched as Alex craned her neck to look around before physically moving in a circle. The only sound was their breathing and it was moments before Alex tore her eyes from the view and looked at Maggie.

"This is … I don't even know how to say it."

"I know," Maggie said.

"Thank you," Alex said. "Thank you for this."

"Hey, we're not done yet," Maggie responded. "You haven't done your first spacewalk yet."

Maggie released her magnetic boots and jumped off the edge of the ship, her tether securely in place. She floated out, twisting she could look back at Alex, who was still standing there watching her. She could see Alex hesitate a second before leaping off.

This time she heard laughter from Alex coming through the headset as the other woman twirled around in the sky. The sound of her laughter stuck in Maggie's ears and she wasn't sure she had ever heard anything as beautiful.

Maggie wasn't sure how long they stayed out there. In fact, for a while there at the end they just sat at the edge of the ship staring out at the expanse.

Despite the enormity of it, Maggie never once felt alone.


End file.
